adidas All-Star

Man, does time fly. My bad, seriously. I should have a bunch of stuff for ya this week, though. All-Star Weekend's almost here, and, as usual, there's a lot going on.

It starts with adidas, the official outfitter of the L and the on-court shoe of a whole mess of All-Stars—Kevin Garnett, Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard, Chauncey Billups. Some of their big guns won't be in the game, of course. Garnett is injured, Tracy McGrady has been having an off season, and guard/blogger extraordinaire Gilbert Arenas has missed much of the season following knee surgery.

That said, the guys who are playing will wear this as the official on-court game shoe—the adidas Team Signature ProModel. It's the latest incarnation of the venerable ProModel, the original shell-toed high top that was one of the first (if not THE first) production leather basketball shoes back in the late '60s.

This is all part of the Brotherhood campaign, which has all the key adidas athletes wearing different colorways of the same shoe, rather than separate signature models. Although had Gilbert been playing, he would have no doubt played in his Team Signature Lightswitch lowtop—unless they could have coaxed him into a TS ProModel Low (which would technically be a TS SuperStar). Tragically, we'll never know.

Anyway, the All-Star versions of the TS ProModel (blue accents for East, red for West) will include lots of little touches in honor of the ASG's New Orleans locale. Pinstripes, Fleur de Lis accents, little touches of metallic hardware. And if they work for players as different as Howard and Billups, they should work just fine for you, too.

Retail is $100. Available now at selected New Orleans locations and www.shopadidas.com.